Asra
Described as a wandering magician with a wealth of secrets, Asra Alnazar is first introduced in-game as the Apprentice's teacher in magic, and is one of the six available love interests. It is implied there is history of a romantic nature between him and the apprentice, as the Apprentice's first memory is that of waking up in Asra's arms. Regardless, he is intensely fond of the Apprentice no matter which route the player currently follows. His patron Arcana is The Magician. Appearance Asra appears as a svelte young person with golden brown skin, fluffy white hair and deep violet eyes. He has a mischievous grin, and dimples appear on his cheeks when he laughs. He dresses in a poorly-fitted white shirt and brown and black slacks, both with gold decorative studs. Around his neck is a gold choker with simple curve carvings and a small blue crystal on a thick cord. Indoors, he wears a magenta shawl with gold tassels and when traveling, he has a long, sleeveless multicolored coat, a maroon scarf, and sometimes a black hat with a large, bright feather. Personality Asra is characterized by a wanderlust and curiosity that often leads him away on mysterious journeys, and he enjoys exploring faraway locations. To the Apprentice's enduring annoyance, he is often enigmatic and acts ambiguously, especially when pressed about the Apprentice's past. However, he confesses to hate keeping secrets from the Apprentice, and refrains from telling them complete truths only to keep them safe. He is very devoted to and protective of the apprentice, admitting that he journeys partly to escape his overwhelming feelings for the Apprentice, as he cannot tell them how he feels, in fear of how much they would know. At times Asra is difficult to predict, but he can always be depended on to arrive whenever the Apprentice needs him. He is free-spirited and sociable, though ultimately private, preferring to spend his time alone or with only the Apprentice. He also enjoys teasing others with a mischievous humor, delighted by making them fluster. However when the teasing is returned, or upon receiving genuine affection, he appears comically uncertain of how to respond. Carefree and content to live in the moment, Asra appears to dislike worrying about the future, and will remind the Apprentice to do the same. History Early Life Asra is the son of Aisha and Salim, two adept magicians. They supplied Asra with magical knowledge, mainly through a book on tarot and, subsequently, the arcana. His father had drawn all the pictures, and his mother supplied the riddles. When Asra was still a child, Aisha and Salim were tasked by Count Lucio with constructing his prosthetic arm. When it was completed, he had them both imprisoned, claiming he didn't want anyone else to know the secret of how the arm worked. In prison they were each visited by the Devil, who made deals with them both to ensure the safety of their son and spouse; they failed to realize it was all a trick until it was too late. Both were imprisoned in the Arcana Realm for approximately twenty years. Orphaned, Asra grew up on the streets of Vesuvia. The spirit of the Magician archetype continued Asra 's tutelage in magic, appearing to the boy as a purple-eyed anthropomorphic fox. Seventeen years before the start of the game, he met Muriel, another orphan living on the streets, and the two became close friends. They eventually moved to a house in the woods outside the city. Another magician gifted Asra with Faust's egg. Asra created the tarot deck himself, choosing the designs and animals based on what he believed fit the archetypes. Eventually, he began to explore places beyond Vesuvia, as well as other magical realms. During his travels, he came to own a small adobe house in Nopal, which he last visited prior to the outbreak of the Red Plague. Lucio had manipulated Asra into working for him, which Asra agreed to in order to protect Muriel. Lucio failed to mention Muriel was doing the same thing in order to protect Asra . Shown through one of Faust's memories, the Apprentice and Asra had attended at least one masquerade together before the fateful masquerade three years prior to the start of the game. At the Palace Sometime during the outbreak of the Red Plague, the Apprentice and Asra found themselves arguing whether or not to stay in Vesuvia and risk being infected with the plague, or leave for someplace safer. Ultimately the Apprentice stayed, and Asra left for an undetermined amount of time. Upon returning, he found out the Apprentice had died of the plague and been cremated at the Lazaret. Broken by their death, he resolved to do one thing: bring the Apprentice back. Following Lucio's demands and subsequent use of his connection with Muriel to coerce him to work for Lucio, he came to work in the palace to find the cure for the Red Plague, hiding his true intentions from everyone. For reasons unclear, both Muriel and Julian warned him of Lucio, to which he insisted that he needed the palace's resources, and that Lucio posed no real threat while sick. While there, he befriended Nadia and Julian, and entered into a physical relationship with the latter. The trio appear to have become very close, celebrating Nadia's birthday and embarking on a trip together. During his stay at the palace, it is clear that Asra at this point knew and missed the Apprentice, claiming they had gone to "a place he can't follow", and even carving their name into the trunk of his favorite tree. It was at this time that he also gave Julian a raven statuette, which was similar to Muriel's bear figure and the fox, horned owl, and snake statues in his cottage in Nopal. Night of the Masquerade All of Asra 's work in the palace led him to the night of the Masquerade, and his final goal: to bring the Apprentice back. He went about the Masquerade as everyone else did; he was, however, actively plotting to sabotage the ritual Lucio was going to perform to get himself a new body. He sabotaged the most important part of the ritual, namely drinking Lucio's blood, by substituting the Count's blood with pomegranate juice. What else he did in regards to manipulating the ritual and his further actions during the rest of the Masquerade are unknown. Asra asked Muriel to find Julian and take him to Count Lucio's rooms, which had already been ablaze when they arrived there. Three-Year Interlude Succeeding the Apprentice's revival and horrific amnesia, Asra spent three years rehabilitating the Apprentice and re-teaching them magic. Although he tried to restore their memory several times, remembering the Apprentice's past would send them into a catatonic state, and only the erasure of their memories would set them back to normal. He confesses that after attempting this several times, he gave up on trying to help regain the Apprentice's memories out of fear of permanently damaging them. He settled for teaching the Apprentice to meditate whenever remembering caused them to have headaches, warning them not to try and evoke their memory deliberately, just to keep them safe. He frequently asked Muriel to check up on the Apprentice while he was on his trips despite Muriel's dislike of them, but nonetheless, the Apprentice would always forget him anyway. Prologue Interactions The game opens with Asra saying goodbye to the Apprentice as he prepares to depart on a journey. He leaves them his tarot deck as a gift, and has them tell his fortune one more time. He then leaves abruptly upon hearing a knock on the door. Asra confesses his love to the Apprentice, and hints at his struggle with it, if the player unlocks the paid option "What do I mean to you?" in the final scene of Book V. The scene concludes with him erasing the Apprentice's memory of the encounter, presumably to avoid sending them into a catatonic state once again. Route As a love interest Asra has his own route the apprentice can follow if the player desire so. Powers Asra has a wide range of magical abilities that have barely been seen in-game. Magic in this universe seems to follow a Whatever you can imagine, you can make real rule, so this list will mostly cover key abilities. * Water '': Asra has an affinity for water related magic. The Apprentice was able to reach out to him in another realm through the palace fountain, where they sensed his magic leaking through. He made a dramatic entrance where his form collapsed into sand and reappeared in a waterspout he created. * ''Divination : He has a mystical tarot deck that he is well known for and taught the Apprentice to use. The Apprentice can both feel it speaking to them when they do readings, and sense its mystic energies. * Familiar '': Asra and Faust have a special bond. They can telepathically communicate over great distances, but it is not a constant thing. Asra needs to consciously reach out to speak with her. * ''Healing : He can heal small cuts with little effort. * Protection : He uses magical glyphs to ward doors, and weaves protection charms out of dried grass. He has heavy protections on himself to keep Lucio's ghost away from him. * Illusions : He used a glamour spell to disguise both him and the Apprentice to speak to a fortune teller. * Teleportation : He unlocked the library portal for the Apprentice and Julian and appeared from seemingly nowhere with a flashy display of smoke when entering the palace. * Personal Gate : The vibrantly colored oasis is Asra's personal connection to other realms, created by Asra himself. Relationships The Apprentice Asra and the apprentice are very close despite his frequent absence, which he admits is partly due to how overwhelmed he is by his feelings towards them. He has known them for nine years and lived with them for at least three, during which he re-teaches them magic. The apprentice can be annoyed by the many secrets that Asra keeps from them, since he cannot even say it is for their own good. Asra cares deeply for them, but is afraid of acting on his feelings. Strangely, he always seems to arrive just when they need him. Faust Faust is Asra 's familiar, and the two are very close. Asra received her as an egg . They can communicate telepathically over great distances. Julian Asra and Julian appear to have met while working at the palace to cure the Red Plague. Although aware of Julian's growing feelings towards him, Asra seemed to view him as an annoyance and claimed that he was already enamored with the apprentice. Eventually, however, he acknowledged Julian's desire and the two began a physical relationship. At some point, their relationship met a messy end for an unknown cause, and both are bitter about it for different reasons and hurt by their fallout. Presently however, Julian admits he had unfair expectations of Asra, and hopes he is a different man than when he was with Asra. Nadia Although Asra remarks that he and Nadia had once been close, even sharing secrets and talking late into the night, he is now a stranger to her due to Nadia's memory loss. Despite being saddened by this, Asra has not yet tried to rebuild their relationship. He expresses a belief that she may not want to remember him, and may be unaware she suffers from amnesia much like the apprentice. Muriel Muriel and Asra grew up together on the streets of Vesuvia, and they met seventeen years before the game is set. Asra and Muriel lived around the wharf with a lot of other orphans and although Asra tries to recall the times more fondly than him, Muriel describes it as 'bad'. Some time later on, Muriel also painted masks for Asra to sell during the Masquerade while he himself stayed home. According to Asra , Muriel had to do a lot of things for Lucio in order to protect Asra, all the while Asra did the same for Muriel's protection without either knowing of the other one's arrangement until later on. Asra is his best and only friend, and Muriel watches over the Apprentice when Asra is out of town. Asra is also the one who gave Muriel his 'gift' when he asked for it after helping him. Lucio Asra harbors extreme dislike for Lucio. Given the nature of the Count's personality, the feeling was likely mutual. During a game of truth or dare, Asra admits that Lucio's the one person Asra could never forgive and thus, never forget. Later on, Lucio calls Asra "impossible to hate and impossible to love." Trivia *Although referred to with he/him pronouns in-game, Asra is canonically non-binary. *Some inspirations for him came from Howl Jenkins and Yoshitaka Amano’s art for Vampire Hunter D. *The name Asra is of Arabic origin, which means "travel at night". *He is known to have unusual tastes in food. Among his less eccentric favourites are rainbow sorbet and blue raspberries. *Julian is the most impulsive thing that he has ever done. *His favorite season is Spring. *He knows how to do cool showy knife tricks. *He speaks three languages. *He has an airy, intimate voice. *He has very soft hair. *His sleeping habits are 'predictably unpredictable'. Gallery See Memories for more information on the pictures. 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